There are at least four decades worth of people who were practically raised on video games, since video games were popularized in the 1970s. For me, I remember a time when video games were just something that I talked about with friends on the playground. Video games in general were considered more of a childish past time than a serious medium.
My parents did at one point or another ask me when my interest in video games would stop. I didn’t know back then to be honest, but I also had a feeling that my interest in video games would wane with time.
As a child, I always viewed adulthood as being a sudden transition. I figured I would find video games and cartoons boring from the moment I became an adult. I was naive; my love for video games never left, even as I got older. And why should it?
I would wonder when my collection of games would vanish. But with each new game on the shelf or re- view, I always found something new to hold over my obsession. Regard- less of the end quality, I remember every time I put in a fresh disc and the first hour that followed, which I completely embraced.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I can ever replicate that feeling ever again. Like an addict, I will forev- er search for that first high. I sud- denly feel old, like I can no longer grasp the changes that are occurring around me.
I stopped using an Xbox One, or Playstation 4, or Wii U, which is a sign that I have not aged beyond the previous console generation.
It could just be that I don’t have the time to commit to amassing a collection for a new console. However, there is another reason why I decided to stop using Wii and Playstation 3 — I didn’t want to depend on Internet connection just to be able to play games.
Part of the reason is because my consoles are in a place that gets very slow Internet reception (in my dorm on campus). But there might be a more psychological reason to my problem.
At this time, I am a minority. I still cling to my physical copies while others are more than willing to purchase codes to get downloadable content beamed directly into their systems. In an age where people amass huge backlogs of games from shopping sprees on the Playstation store, it’s easy to spend more time buying add-ons for your game than the actual game-playing. I haven’t bought a single game in two years, let alone from a network store.
I have much less free time than I have in the past. The truth is, I generally dislike having to depend on something other than a physical.
We are living in an age in which physical stores are fading, and the Internet is taking over as the place where everyone shops for everything. The closing and decreasing revenue in brick and mortar stores, like Borders and Best Buy are evidence enough of the growing dominance of the online shipping industry.
Furthermore, progressively more games are locking players out of full-access to game content, requiring additional payment just to get the whole experience. I became a gamer at a time when the entire game was available to me immediately. Expansions were reserved only for computer games at the time, which I felt I didn’t need to play.
These days it feels like consoles are closer to being glorified PCs to the extent that I can barely make a distinction. For these new systems, an Internet connection matters more than ever to get the full experience out of any game.
While everyone else around me has adapted to these changes with little issue, I feel that I can never fully adapt to this new era of technology. I just feel uncomfortable with the thought of physical discs eventually fading out of existence.
And that is one of the reasons why I no longer make any real purchases. I know that I will no longer be able to get the full experience. Rather I will be constantly bombarded with patches and updates for games that were shipped out before they were remotely polished. Most of all, I don’t want a console that prioritizes linking me to the Internet over doing its job and simply letting me play games.
Call me sentimental, but similar to print books, I find more accomplishment in seeing my game physically handed to me rather than downloaded on my console. There is that sense of commitment to buying a game physically, as if I am now obligated to play it immediately.
I can’t replicate the same joy that I had when I was a child.
My attempts at sticking to physical re- leases are ultimately futile. Digital distribution is almost everyone else’s go-to method for purchasing video games. In the end, someone like me will never be able to experience the same kind of joy again.
It just frightens me to think that the way of life I had grown so accustomed to will eventually fade away. And I feel like I’m the only one with these emotions.
Art by: Garrison Wright
